


Italian Lullabies

by SinMint



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: And Nico sings!, Annabeth is dead, Bianca and Maria are obviously dead, Dam it Feelings, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluffy, I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good, I assure you there are no Harry Potter references in this fic, I have all the feelings of the world for this pairing, Just Percy and his feelings, Love Confessions, M/M, Mischief Managed, No Zombies in this fic I assure you, Percy Jackson/Nico di Angelo - Freeform, Percy cries, Percy is depressed, Percy misses everybody, Percy needs Nico, Sally is dead, Singing Nico, Sometimes it's so hard being a hero, What are Harry Potter jokes doing in Percy Jackson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 04:32:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7252210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinMint/pseuds/SinMint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy loses his soulmate and mother in the wars. Now he's just a husk of a demigod, suffering through all his losses; a listless zombie.<br/>Nico is cleaning his cabin and he's too proud to be sad anymore, and a certain son of Poseidon catches him singing a lullaby.<br/>Percy asks Nico of a favor.<br/>Nico swears on Styx.<br/>And they kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Italian Lullabies

Nico was softly singing to himself as he put his new Mythomagic deck back in his drawer. He identified the tune to one of his oldest memories of his mother singing the same lullaby to his sister and him when they tried to sleep and were ironically scared of the dark. Although it was still painful to recollect memories of the two women, he dealt with it. Nowadays, they only brought a smile to his face.

No one knew that Nico could sing. In fact, he was sure he’d kill anyone who had the unfortunate chance of hearing him, because he was still horribly discreet. And he loved it. Everyone had their own ways of coping up after the war; all of them were doing fine. Well, almost all of them. Minus one child of the big three from the equation.

His bottom drawer was a mess. He pulled it open, inspecting to dusty contents; a few golden drachmas, some weird black satin handkerchief, a small empty flask and a celestial bronze dagger complete with its sheath (Nico wondered how it got there in the first place).

He dusted off the drawer, pulling the intriguing contents outside. It felt as if it had been years since someone had made an effort to clear the place. And it probably was true, too. If he hadn’t had anything better to do, Nico himself doubted he’d be clearing the cabin.

When he finished, he put the things back in its place in a more organized manner, his lips parting in a soft breath as he reached the crescendo, still singing it in a toned down voice as he stood up.

He turned around and immediately let out a noise between a strangled gasp and a squeak. He’d forever deny making that sound.

“P-Percy?” He asked, his eyes wide and startled.

No one other than _Perseus Jackson_ was sitting on his bed, the mattress dipping softly under his weight and the sheets wrinkling around him. his piercing emerald eyes were staring directly at Nico, something deep and mysterious and _different_ about his scrutinizing gaze that made Nico feel restless and undeniably uneasy. His lips were tilted in a depressing frown and Nico could notice the dark circles around Percy’s eyes from where he stood almost 4 feet across. Something about Percy was so horribly… _un-Percy_ that it made him exasperated that he couldn’t put a finger on it.

Though to him, Percy would never look more beautiful.

Nico mentally chided himself. He, being the son of Hades, had not even sensed the son of Poseidon come in. He had not heard, or even felt the life force of Percy nearby. It was unnerving; Just a few years ago he’d been constantly aware of Percy’s bouncing, lively sea-green aura from miles apart.

What concerned him was that Percy’s aura seemed more…muted now. It had shrunk back to his body, hanging in a sickly shade of greenish-grey with black spots around it. The unappetizing color looked…dead.

“Why did you stop?” His voice was almost mechanical, hard and cold. Deprived of any emotion. Nico could practically feel the morose emotion the other boy emitted. It was so different from what he had been before.  
Happy.

“Uh…Why did you come in?” Nico’s own promise of murdering a witness of his singing was crumbling fast. And it broke his heart to see Percy look so…listless. It was pathetic.

“Sing. _Please_.” Percy replied simply, lifting his chin up slightly so that his clumpy, greasy hair shook and stuck out in odder angles than before. His shirt was matted with mud and a crimson liquid Nico hoped to be red wine or something like that, though the endless sparring wounds on Percy’s limbs said otherwise.

Though looking at his hair, something inside Nico twisted painfully. What on Olympus had the power to keep the son of Poseidon away from a shower?

Nico was unsure how to respond. He just stood there awkwardly, his hands feeling more useless than ever as they hung at his sides.

Percy turned at him again after a silenced minute, that unnamed emotion still swirling in his unmoving, corpse-like eyes. He gently patted the place next to him, signaling Nico to sit. So he did.

“Sing. I want to hear you.” Percy said again, and Nico’s heart was thumping in his chest. every single cell in his body screamed at him to just _run, run, run_ , because he knew that he’d rather scale the circumference of the Earth than sing to Percy Jackson.

So, obviously, he sang.

He picked up from where he had left it, though the lullaby had only a few minutes at tops. His voice was barely audible, but he didn’t raise it in fear of it becoming irregular and uneven.

Because _holy Hera_ , Percy Jackson was staring at him like he was a specimen under a microscope.

As he finished slowly, he didn’t turn his head. He could practically feel Percy’s hard gaze oh him.

“I- I miss her.” Percy’s voice was wavering, breaking, as he spoke after the lullaby was over. Nico exhaled lightly.

“Me too. Annabeth didn’t have to die.”

“is she happy?”

“yes. She keeps juggling between Elysium and helping Daedalus.”

Percy took in a ragged breath “Sh-she’d hate to see me like this.”

“I’ll second that.” Nico said “ _I_ hate to see you like that.” He turned to look at Percy.

“I-…She’d forgive me for moving on, right? I do love her… I just… I…. I won’t forget her, but I don’t want my life to revolve around her when she’s dead… I..”

Nico sighed “No. She would understand. It’s been 8 months. You think too much.”

Percy gave a bitter laugh that caused Nico’s insides to tighten. It sounded too forced and miserable. _Could someone laugh miserably?_

“She used to say that I don’t have a brain.”

Nico attempted a smile at him

“Nico..I want you to help me.” He looked sincere.

“Try me.”

“She’d be happy for me if I moved on, right?”

“Yeah. She already thinks you need to get another girlfriend. Why? Do you have someone in mind?” He asked, dreading the answer. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“Yes.”

Nico’s world stopped spinning.

“Oh.”

Percy smiled ruefully at Nico, and this time it was something more than a disturbing curl of lips.

“Nico di Angelo,” He began “I love you. Would you be my boyfriend?”

Nico’s heart missed a beat or two.   
Or it stopped working completely.   
Nico wasn’t sure.

“Isn’t love too strong a word?” Nico replied meekly, because his brain was blissfully blank.   
This was a dream. He hated dreams. Dreams meant fakeness; false hope. False sense of security. Things that you’ll never get. Things that you could never own.

Like Percy Jackson.

“I love you.” Percy repeated “you haven’t yet answered.”

“Gods, yes!” Nico laughed, and there was no other emotion in the world that had made him feel so…happy. He was elated, euphoric. He wanted to squeal and laugh and smile and grin and everything felt so… _unusual_.

One of Percy’s fingers traced his cheek, and he bent in slightly.

Nico wanted to burst in happiness, so he just closed the distance between them.

The kiss was long, but promising and calm. Nico tasted something salty, and he realized with a start that Percy was crying.

He broke the kiss softly, both of them lingering in their cocoon of warmth. Their fingers were entwined, soothing. Nico was sitting on Percy’s lap, his knees on both sides of Percy. His hands circled Percy’s neck and his fingers were knotted in his greasy, filthy hair that Nico paid no mind. The son of Poseidon had closed his eyes, nervous dry heaves racking his body softly and his eyes tightly closed in an effort to stem the flow of the hot, salty liquid.

Nico didn’t want Percy to cry when he was kissing him.

“What’s wrong?”

Percy dipped in on the boy, burying his face in the other’s shoulder. His body wracked with sobs and he was shaking severely. The smaller boy, though younger, wrapped his arms around Percy and rather awkwardly patted him.

“My mom used to sing to me.” Percy’s muffled voice came “I miss them so much.”

“I’ll be there for you.” Nico promised.

Percy took a moment, breathing in deeply and steadying himself. He straightened his back. His nose looked rubbed raw and his eyes were blochy. Nico wanted to kiss all that sadness away.

“You will?”

“ _I promise_.” He swore “I promise on _River Styx_ I’ll be there for you when you need me.”

“I love you.” Percy smiled, and it was a real, happy smile. Something that Nico felt that he hadn’t seen it in ever. And Nico was the cause of that smile.

“Me too.”

Nico kissed him again.

Sweet, Sweet Ecstasy.

**Author's Note:**

> I have all the feelings of the world for this pairing <3  
> and for Nico and Percy.


End file.
